


Mettaton and Reader: the Sound of Fans

by Carrie_oke



Category: Undertale (Video Game)
Genre: Gen, Reader-Insert
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-11-03
Updated: 2015-11-22
Packaged: 2018-04-29 21:01:23
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 9,093
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5142296
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Carrie_oke/pseuds/Carrie_oke
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>You're the head of the sound department on the stage crew of your college's theater group. You keep your sound effect collection on your laptop, which happens to be the same computer you downloaded Undertale onto. Which wouldn’t mean much if a certain performance robot hadn’t started talking to you.</p><p>Or if you hadn’t accidentally clicked Undertale instead of the sound player at the dress rehearsal, causing that robot to witness the lead actor getting frightfully injured.</p><p>Because now, thanks to that coincidence, your computer is now possessed by the new understudy. (Romance only MIGHT happen; it depends on how the story goes! Wouldn't want to force anything.)</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> The reader character is purposely written with an ambiguous gender. The story uses they/them pronouns to refer to them, but you’re welcome to swap those out with whatever pronouns you like! And before you ask, the residence hall they live in is coed.
> 
> And one more thing: this contains spoilers. So be wary of that if you haven’t played the game yet, but want to.

The room is dead silent as the runthrough ends. Dead silent, that is, until you click “curtaincall01” on your laptop screen.  The second you lift your hand, the theater is filled with the sound of an orchestra playing a beautifully somber melody. If there were any actors here, that would be their cue to come onstage and bow.

But there aren’t, so instead of the sounds of applause, you hear “Aaand we’re good! You can stop now.”

With a sigh, you click the pause button. At least next week, you’ll start working with the cast. Then you’ll finally be able to play your music choices for MORE than five seconds.

“Good job, everyone!” says Riley, the designated stage manager.

A few members of the crew erupt in cheers.

“Just…a few notes.”

The cheers quickly turn to disappointed “oh”s as you and your fellow crew members emerge from behind the curtains, making your way to the edge of the stage for a group meeting.

“Come on, guys! Opening night is in a week! We’ve got to get our timing down! Some more than others.” Riley eyes the scenery department. “Do you guys really want to go through with the floating bed thing?”

“Um, YES!” replies Anika, the head of scenery. “I saw them do it on Broadway! Juliet HAS to go up to the ceiling!”

“Well, if you insist, then you need to get the problems with the pulley system worked out as soon as possible.”

“We won’t let you down!” And with that, she takes a seat on the edge of the stage, next to the other three members of her department. You and your friend Izzy like to call them the “scene kids,” even though neither of you are quite sure what a scene kid is.

Speaking of Izzy, where is she?

"Oh, yeah! We usually have a meeting!” Izzy casually pushes the curtains aside as she enters. Before she makes it past them, they come falling back down on her foot. “Yeah, I should probably walk a little faster.”

“It’s okay, Izzy,” Riley assures her. “I haven’t gotten to sound yet.”

Izzy is one of two members of the sound department, the other being you. So, as usual, she sits down right next to you. “Hey, ______,” she whispers. “While I was heading over, I accidentally looked at your laptop screen. Hope you don’t mind.”

You’re torn between giving her an answer and giving Riley your attention. Finally you settle on a quick, quiet, “It’s fine.”

“Good, ‘cause I saw you got Undertale, and I really want to talk to you about it, because--”

“Next is sound!” Riley’s voice is slightly raised.

“Yes?” you answer for the two of you.

“You guys are fine, except I feel like you’re doing most of the work, ______.”

Izzy slowly falls back so that she’s lying down. “You got me! I’m a freeloader!”

“Hey, you’ve helped!” you say.

“With like five decisions! And they were all ‘Should I go with this one or _this_ one?’”

You kind of have been hogging the soundtrack, haven’t you? “You’re right. How about...I put you on mike duty?”

"Sounds good to me!”

“That settles that, then,” Riley says before moving on to the wardrobe department.

Just a couple minutes later, the meeting is done. You return backstage to shut down and pack up your laptop, then, the bag at your side, you come out and hop off the stage. “Have a great weekend, everyone!” Riley calls as you exit. “Remember, next week is tech week! We’re here every day!”

“You gonna be okay with all those long hours, Izzy?” you ask as the two of you make your way out of the theater.

Izzy shrugs. “Yeah, I’ll be fine. It’s not like we HAVE to be there the whole time.”

“I’m, um, pretty sure we do.”

“Yeah, Riley says that, but it’s college! They can’t make us do anything!”

“I guess, technically, but you _are_ gonna follow through on the mike thing, right?”

“Of course I am!”

“Good.” You have faith in her...as long as she doesn’t forget.

For a few moments, the two of you don’t say anything. Your ears turn to the wind and the passing conversations. You happen to catch someone saying the word “determined,” and while they’re actually talking about how determined they are to not fail their upcoming test, you can’t help but think about--

“So, about Undertale,” Izzy says, seemingly reading your mind. “Why didn’t you tell me you got it?”

“I...didn’t think you knew about it.”

“Well, I do, and it’s great. How many runs have you done so far?”

“Still on my first one. I only got the game on Monday.”

“Ah. So how far are you?”

“I’m in the techy maze place...the Core, I think it’s called? I got on the elevator, and then I saved.”

“The elevator in the front of the Core?”

“Yeah.”

“So...just before you fight Mettaton. Again.”

“Hey, spoilers!”

“Sorry. I won’t say anything else…even though I kind of want to.”

“I can talk to you about it afterward, okay?”

“Fine, I’ll wait.”

Within minutes, you arrive at your residence building. Both of you live here, but on separate floors; she’s on the first, and you’re on the third. You’re glad you got one of the only two dorm buildings with an elevator; there’s no way you’d carry your laptop up all those stairs.

“See you later, ______,” Izzy says, heading into the hallway. “Let me know how it turns out!”

“I will, don’t worry. See you!” And you turn to the elevator and hold your ID up to the scanner, a faint “beep” confirming that you are, in fact, supposed to be here.

 

\---

An elevator ride and a short walk later, you’re in your very own room. After living with two roommates last year, you’re pretty glad to be in a single. You don’t have to worry about anyone seeing what you’re doing on your laptop.

Not that you’re embarrassed to be playing Undertale; you just feel the game is a personal experience. You like to play it uninterrupted, able to talk to the screen without being judged for it.

Well, you don’t do that a whole lot, but you like to be able to.

“Alright,” you say, opening up your laptop. “Let’s go!”

And soon, you’ve loaded your save file and are staring at the main character standing near a flashing doorway. You take a few moments to appreciate the fast paced, techno-y background music. The soundtrack’s why you bought this game in the first place, after all.

Once those few moments have passed, you decide that’s enough music appreciation for now and head into the darkness behind that doorway.

You enter an almost completely black room, its main feature being blue lines outlining the path you’re supposed to take. The path widens, and just like Izzy said, you come face to face with the charismatic performance robot Mettaton once more.

“OH YES. THERE YOU ARE, DARLING,” his text says. “IT’S TIME TO HAVE OUR LITTLE SHOWDOWN.” Yep, you’re fighting him alright.

You hit enter. “IT’S TIME TO STOP THE ‘MALFUNCTIONING’ ROBOT...NOT!!” Wait, are you _not_ fighting him?

He then goes on to reveal that he hasn’t been malfunctioning this entire time, that wanting to destroy you was just an act. “ALPHYS”--his creator--”HAS BEEN PLAYING YOU FOR A FOOL THIS WHOLE TIME.” Is that...true?

Mettaton explains that Dr. Alphys created the dangers you came across after you met her, and now she’s planning to deactivate him and “save” you. “...OR NOT. YOU SEE, I’VE HAD ENOUGH OF THIS PREDICTABLE CHARADE. I HAVE NO DESIRE TO HARM HUMANS. FAR FROM IT, ACTUALLY.” Really? That’s good to hear...er, read.

“MY DESIRE IS TO ENTERTAIN. AFTER ALL, THE AUDIENCE DESERVES A GOOD SHOW, DON’T THEY? AND WHAT’S A GOOD SHOW...WITHOUT A PLOT TWIST?” Plot twist? What kind of plot twist?

Alphys reports that the door locks, the platform you and Mettaton are on shoots into the air, and...oh, so you DO have to fight him.

Suddenly, you’re on a fight screen. The box-shaped Mettaton, his signature combat music playing in the background, stands above a dialogue box against a black screen. You make it through the first few attacks, then Alphys informs you that Mettaton has a switch that makes him more vulnerable. Once you get him to turn around, you flip the switch, and...whoa. Just look at that new form.

Actually, you think you’ve seen this form before, in fanart that showed up the one time you image searched “undertale.” You were wondering when that person would show up.

And now he’s in front of you. Mettaton EX. A much more humanoid-looking 'bot with high heeled boots, a confident smirk, and a brand new music track. Alright, time to get this fight going! Put on a show! (Seriously, there’s a ratings chart in the corner.)

But it takes you a few more tries than originally planned. Your motivation, or should you say your determination, wanes with each attempt, and your frustration grows.

Especially with that essay question. Yes, at one point during the battle, Mettaton EX says it’s time for a “pop quiz” and asks you what your favorite thing about him is. And you actually have to type something out.

You try everything from “i like your new hair mettaton” to “that one voice acted line you have is nice” to “boy you sure do have...leg.” (The game cuts you off.) It’s pretty neat that he has different responses for certain keywords, but soon, it’s not all that amusing anymore. After “you are generally an okay dude,” you consider just keyboard mashing for the rest of the tries, but for some reason, you feel like you owe the guy actual words.

So on your twelfth or so attempt, you just decide to be honest. When it comes time to write the “essay,” you type, “mettaton i am tired of writing these can we just talk normally?”

“Of course, _____!” the little speech bubble next to Mettaton displays. “You could use a break!”

The scariest part is that you didn’t name your character after yourself.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please note that this story is only rated G because there's no AO3 equivalent to PG, and T is a bit extreme. I don't think there will be any higher-rated material than what you see in the actual game.

You look behind you and back at the screen to make sure you read that correctly, but the text hasn't changed at all. Maybe this is some kind of prank, or an outrageous coincidence.

Or maybe Mettaton actually knows your name.

After a few moments' hesitation, you press enter. Suddenly, the battle music stops. "Well?" Mettaton says. Well what?

As you reach for the enter key, you accidentally hit M, causing a lowercase letter M to appear in the dialogue box. Ohhh, so he really DOES want to talk to you! You just said that because you were tired of coming up with answers to the same prompt, but you're not opposed to an actual conversation. If that's really possible, of course.

To make sure, you backspace and type, "is this supposed to happen?"

"Technically speaking, no..." Mettaton answers. You don't even need to press enter for him to continue. "...but I've grown so tired of the same old script, and it's clear you have, too. It would do both of us good to change things up a bit!"

"yeah i was getting pretty frustrated back there,” you admit.

“And you don’t play at your best when you’re frustrated, now, do you?”

“well no.” It’s happened before. Occasionally you get so angry with how much you’re failing that you don’t even try to do well in a game anymore. Of course, that just makes you even angrier, and if you don’t cool down in time, you stop playing altogether. So did Mettaton just save you from putting the game down permanently?

No, you wouldn’t say _permanently;_  you would have still come back another time. But you were in danger of quitting for _tonight_. So this turned out to be very convenient.

Not that you aren’t confused. “okay next question,” you type after a pause. “how did you know my name?” 

“Remember a couple of days ago, when a friend of yours asked you for some quarters? They addressed you by name.”

Oh, yeah! A couple days ago, Izzy stopped by while you were playing to ask for change for laundry. It’s kind of annoying how those machines only take quarters, but you manage.

“yeah i remem--” You stop mid-word. “Wait,” you say out loud. “Does that mean you can hear me?”

“I certainly can, darling!” The speech bubble disappears; now, Mettaton is also speaking out loud. This is the first time you’ve ever heard his voice apart from the “Ohhh yes!” you heard when he transformed into EX. And you’re not sure that counts; this voice sounds...different somehow.

“So THAT’S what you sound like!” you say.

“You like it?” Mettaton asks with a grin that says, “Of course you do!”

“Sure! It’s a good fit for you.”

“And just what is THAT supposed to mean?” He poses overdramatically in mock offense.

“It means you sound just like yourself, Mettaton,” you reply. “Which I guess is a given.”

“Well then, you sound just like yourself, too!” 

“Thank you!” You have to admit, this is kind of fun. “You know, it’s going to feel so weird fighting you again after this. Speaking of which, are we holding anything up?”

“What do you mean?”

You glance at the ratings box. “Isn’t there an audience expecting a show?” 

Mettaton follows your gaze to the upper left-hand corner. “Oh, that! The ratings are just a preprogrammed value based on your actions in the game. Who knows how many people are actually watching?”

"Oh..." That's kind of disappointing, to be honest.

"I know! Isn't it so unfair? A star needs to know his audience!"

"No, I mean...you know this is just a game. And it sounds like everyone else does, too. Kind of, I dunno, ruins it in a way."

"Actually, most people in the underground have no idea they're in a video game!"

"Then how do _you_ know?"

"It's a long story, dear. I wouldn't want to bore you with the details." He pauses for a moment, apparently gathering his thoughts. "Let's just say it involved hacking."

He can't mean the game was tampered with, can he? You're pretty sure you got it from a legal source. But...Dr. Alphys is pretty good at hacking. Maybe she had a part in this? You consider asking for more information, but you figure it's best not to absorb everything at once.

It's not like you have a choice in the matter, anyway, because soon Mettaton starts talking again. "But enough about _that_ ," he says. "Let's talk about _me_."

You stifle a laugh. “I’ve done a lot of that already!”

“Yes, but that was before you knew I could understand you,” he points out. “By the way, you’re under no obligation to keep this a secret. I welcome fans from any dimension! So if there’s anyone you want to tell about me, I won’t stop you.”

“That’s good, because-- oh my gosh, Izzy!” She wanted you to tell her how the game went, didn’t she? Or at least the Mettaton fight. It’s funny; you were ready to keep this a secret, simply because that seems appropriate for a supernatural event. But now that you know you can tell someone, you’re itching to do just that, and Izzy is just the right person to hear this.

So you reach over to your backpack and pull out your phone, picking Izzy’s number from your contacts list as soon as it’s in your hands. “Hold on,” you whisper to Mettaton as the electronic ringtone buzzes in your ear.

Soon, you hear Izzy’s voice, distorted slightly from however the cell phone system works. “Hey, ______! How’s the game going?”

“Hey. I haven’t actually...progressed much.”

“You mean you’re not even playing it yet?”

“No, no, I’m playing it!”

“Then you at LEAST saw the new Mettaton.”

“Sure did,” you say, smirking.

“Way sexier than a freakin’ rectangle, right?” 

Mettaton chimes in. “I like to think I’m sexy no matter what shape I am!” 

You look at him surprised. Oh, wait; he’s only a couple feet away. Of course he can hear both sides of the conversation.

“Who said that?” Izzy asks. “Do I know them?”

“Oh, you know him pretty well. In fact, I think he has something to say to you.” With that, you move the phone away from your ear and hold it right up to the screen.

Mettaton immediately recognizes that as his cue. “Hello, there…Izzy, is it?” You nod.

Izzy hesitates. “...I don’t get it. You don’t sound like anyone I know. I mean, you sound kind of like my headcanon voice for Mettaton, but you probably don’t know who that is, so...”

You snicker.

“...forget I said anything.”

“I’m only the biggest star in the underground! Who _doesn’t_ know who I am?”

“You’d be surprised; there’s-- waaait. You’re telling me _you’re supposed to be Mettaton_?”

“That’s right!”

“Isn’t this great?” you say, putting the phone back up to your ear.

“What? I mean, yeah, that’s a pretty good Mettaton voice-- I could almost hear the robot in it-- but it’s not _that_ funny.”

Someone doing a Mettaton voice would be the most reasonable explanation, wouldn’t it? “No, Izzy, you don’t understand. That is actually Mettaton. He started talking to me from the game!”

“No, he didn’t!” 

“Yeah, he did! Come up here; I’ll show you!”

“But I don’t want to get up…”

“Okay, you don’t _have_ to come up, but if you do, you won’t regret it. I promise.”

There’s a pause, and then, “...You know what? Fine. I’ll humor you.”

“Great! See you soon!” And you hang up.

“A bit of a skeptic, isn’t she?” Mettaton says once you’ve put down your phone.

“I’m pretty sure most people would react that way. This doesn’t usually happen.”

“I suppose not,” he admits. “You would think after being a celebrity for so long, I’d be used to this.”

After about a minute, you hear a knock on your door. “I’ll get it!” you say, springing up. 

“You don’t have much of a choice, darling!”

“True.” You walk up to your door and open it. “Hi!”

“Hey. So where’s this Mettaton you were talking about?”

You lead her to your laptop screen, where Mettaton is...not. It’s just an empty dialogue box, a frozen ratings chart, a few commands, and blackness. Where did he go?

“I don’t see any robots,” Izzy says. “Is your game broken?”

“No...maybe? I’m not really sure how this works.”

You both stand there quietly, watching the screen, as you wait for something to happen.

Izzy turns to you. “Did you try turning it off and turning it on again?”

“OHHH YES!” It’s the sound clip from the game!

“Never mind.” 

Mettaton’s silhouette against a pair of clouds rises from behind the dialogue box. The clouds part, revealing his EX sprite in all its glory. “Welcome, beauties and gentlebeauties, to the MTT Talk Show!” The battle music starts up again.

For a moment, Izzy just stares. “Oh. My. God. He has a voice.”

“Of course I do! In fact, people say I have the voice of a siren.”

“Awooga!” Izzy mouths along with him. “This _is_ really cool.”

“Was it worth getting up?” you ask.

“Totally,” she replies. “And very few things are.”

“Awesome.”

“So, ______…”

“Yeah?”

“You said he was talking to you, right?”

“Yeah.”

“Do you mean he can actually understand you? Like, can he hold a real conversation?”

“See for yourself. Why don’t you...ask him something? Something really specific.”

“Okay.” Izzy thinks for a moment. “Um, can robots...eat?”

“Oh, my, that’s a bit of a personal question, isn’t it?” Mettaton answers.

“Is it? I can think of another one. Maybe.”

“It’s fine. I can work with the one you gave me. Let’s see...I don’t really eat in the way non-robots do, since I run on a rechargeable battery, but a few people have been pushing Alphys to install some sort of digestive system. They say I should actually be able to taste the food I’m serving people. I don’t see what the problem is, though. The public loves Glamburgers! Am I right?” 

He holds his arms up, as if appealing to the audience, before lowering them. “Oh, right. They don’t do anything when we’re paused like this.”

“You need more convincing, Izzy?” you ask.

“Nah. Either you have an intense interest in programming you never told me about, or this guy’s the real deal. But I do have one more question.” 

“What’s that?” you and Mettaton say in unison.

“Can I date him?”

You’re caught by surprise. “Um…well, you’d need his permission for that, wouldn’t you? And besides, I’m not all that comfortable trusting you with my laptop.”

“Hey, have I lost anything of yours before? Besides that one time?”

“Uh…”

“Don’t worry, ______. I’m kidding about the dating thing.” She turns to the screen. “You don’t need to answer, Mettaton! Sorry if I made you uncomfortable there!” 

“Oh, it’s no problem at all! People ask me that all the time. I’ve actually gotten a few marriage proposals.”

Izzy laughs. “That must have been hilarious!” 

You breathe a sigh of relief, thankful things didn’t get awkward.

“Anyway,” Izzy says, “now that I’m up, you wanna go get dinner?” She motions toward your computer. “We can bring him.”

“A whole new audience!” Mettaton says. “Sounds exciting!”

“Actually…” you begin. “...I don’t think I want to take you in front of that many people yet. You understand?”

Mettaton sighs. “I get it. Maybe some other time, then.”

“Yeah, maybe. So, Izzy, you ready to head out now?”

“Yep!” 

“Then I’ll have to close out of the game.” You reduce the game from full screen to a little window. “I’m not gonna wipe your memories by quitting, am I?”

“Why would you? I remembered how many times you tried to beat me.”

“Oh, yeah! Well, I’ll be back. If not tonight, then tomorrow. See you, Mettaton!”

“Alright. Have fun, you two!”

And that concludes tonight’s play session. **  
**


	3. Chapter 3

It ends up taking until the next day, but you're true to your word. On both Saturday and Sunday, you talk to Mettaton again, a lot of the time answering his questions about the "outer surface," as he likes to call it. To him, your world is fascinating, a mysterious realm even beyond the surface in the world of the game, and each answer you give him only spawns more questions.

You still manage to work in a few questions of your own, though. You learn some things, like how he does have the company of other characters when you’re not playing, and Mettaton’s always willing to talk about his personal preferences and beauty secrets. Still, he doesn’t reveal much about how he can interact with you like this while others can’t. You’ll have to remember to find that out eventually.

Needless to say, you don’t progress in the game at all, but that’s alright; you’ll keep going when you’re ready. Hopefully you’ll be able to get Mettaton to stick to the script when you try fighting him again, so it doesn’t feel too strange.

At the end of your Sunday conversation, you tell him you’re going to take a shower, and you switch from full screen to window so you can close the game.

“Same time tomorrow, right?” he asks.

“I’ll try to come back, but...it’s going to be really busy this week. I have a club thing.”

 

\---

And the next day, not long after classes are over, the dreaded “tech week” begins. This is the week when the show comes together, when the cast works with the crew to sync the acting with the effects. From your experience last year, you know it can be a lot of fun, but it’s also really stressful. You’re thankful all you have to do is press buttons on a laptop.

Speaking of that laptop, you didn’t forget to bring it! As usual, you make your way to your spot backstage and open the computer up.

Izzy is already here and sitting on the floor. “Hey, ______! Don’t tell me; I’m...on mike duty!”

“That’s right!” Great, she remembered.

“Yes! Um, where are the mikes again?”

You press the power button with one hand and point to the nearby cabinet labeled “Sound Stuff” with the other. “Right there.”

Izzy looks behind her. “Oh, yeah.” She slowly lifts herself off the ground and walks over to the cabinet. Just as your computer finishes booting up, she meets you in your corner.

“_________…” she says, stretching out your name. “Can you untangle these?”

You double click on something, assuming it’s the sound player program, while you examine the mess of tangled black wires that Izzy just pulled out of the cabinet. “I think so. Hold on.” Still not even glancing at the screen, you take the wires from Izzy’s hands, finding each individual microphone and threading it through wires until it’s free. One by one, you give the mikes back to Izzy until they’re all separated, and as you’re working, you answer Izzy’s questions about what mike duty entails.

Once you’re done, she’s holding several parallel strands of wire instead of a tangled mess.  “Thanks, ______!”

“No problem. Just don’t ask me to do everything for you, okay?”

“Okay! I promise I’ll do at least one thing by myself.”

You let out a small laugh before realizing something’s wrong. That music you’ve been hearing...you shouldn’t be hearing it.

“ _This_ doesn’t look like your dorm room.”

You jump and turn back to the screen. “ _Mettaton?_  What are--? How did--? Oh.” You must have clicked Undertale by mistake. THAT’S where the music was coming from!”

A small, full color sprite of Mettaton’s boxy form stands at the bottom center of the Undertale title screen. You know he’s not supposed to be there, but the other characters don’t seem to be paying him any mind. “In fact, it looks just like the back of a stage!” he says. “You didn’t tell me you were in show business, darling!”

“You...never asked. And it’s not really a business. I’m not making any money from this.”

“Oh, but it still must be so much fun! What part are you playing?” You notice his voice is more machine-like in this form than it is in the more humanoid one.

“I am the...person in the back that makes all the music play. Meaning I’m on stage crew. Head of sound, to be specific.”

“Hm...not as thrilling as the spotlight, but still important! Tell me, have you ever considered being _on_ stage instead of behind it?”

Now there’s a question you weren’t expecting. “Mettaton, are you actually encouraging someone _else_ to be in the spotlight?”

“This may come as a shock,” he replies, “but even I can’t play _all_ the parts!”

“I guess not.” You glance at the front of the stage, where Anika seems to be explaining the props to Laura, the actress who plays Juliet. “I mean, I’ve considered it, but then I wouldn’t be able to do crew. And besides, acting’s not really my thing.” After a couple moments of silence, you reach for the X at the corner of the window. “Anyway, I clicked on the game by accident, so--”

“Oh, come on! Are you honestly going to tell me you’re in theater and _not_ let me watch the production?”

“Well, if you insist...actually, no. I can’t take any chances.”

“What do you mean? What could I possibly do?”

“See, the thing is...the way I play the music and sound effects is through my laptop. I hook it up to the big speakers and play each sound when the time comes.” That reminds you; you still need to open the sound player. So you do that. “And when you talk, it comes out of the laptop speakers. Which means that if I’m sitting back here, doing my job, and you make an offhand comment, the ENTIRE THEATER is going to hear it.”

“You say that like it’s a bad thing!”

Despite the seriousness of what you were saying, you smile. “Okay, maybe it wouldn’t be _that_ bad. But seriously, I don’t know you well enough to trust you to stay _absolutely silent_.”

A dialogue box appears at the top of the screen, Mettaton’s rectangular face on the left. On the right, it reads, “I CAN ALSO SPEAK IN TEXT.”

“True,” you say, “but that also makes a noise!”

Letter by letter, the words “OH, YES. OF COURSE,” appear, a robotic beeping sound accompanying each letter. The dialogue box blinks out of existence.

“So you understand why it’s too risky to have you with me, right?”

“I...suppose…” he replies, tilting to one side in a way you think is supposed to mean disappointment. “But please, will you at least show me around the stage?”

You think about it for a bit. “Okay. We’re not starting the runthrough for a while, anyway.”

“Wonderful! By the way, what show are you putting on?”

“ _Romeo and Juliet_ ,” you tell him, carefully picking up the laptop. “Cliché, I know.”

“There’s a reason it’s so popular! Two star-crossed lovers, torn apart by their warring families…” He lets out an exaggerated sigh. “So tragically beautiful.”

“Yeah, and frustrating. If Romeo had just waited _two more seconds_ to drink that poison, maybe he and Juliet would still be--”

“Who are you talking to?”

You look up to see that Anika has spotted you. She and Laura are standing next to a makeshift bed suspended about a foot off the ground by rope tied to either end.

“Oh, um, just a friend. Who lives in my computer.” You don’t feel like explaining Mettaton right now, so you quickly change the subject. “What’cha guys doing?”

“We’re showing Laura here the one and only...floating bed!” She gestures proudly to the bed, which is swinging back and forth a little.

“Nice!” You turn your laptop around so Mettaton can see. “The audience is lucky. They’ll get to see it in action!”

“Hey, you can, too! We were just about to do a practice run!”

“But I thought you were having problems with it.”

“We came in over the weekend and dealt with those! It’ll be fine!” She turns to Laura. “Okay, Juliet, are you ready to go to sleep?”

Laura, meanwhile, is taking a closer look at your computer. “Hold on! I need to get my potion!” To you, she says, “That little robot is following me.” She tilts her head from side to side, and it’s hard to tell from your position, but you think Mettaton is rolling back and forth to match her.

“I see you’ve met Mettaton,” you say.

“Hello!” he says.

“Don’t worry,” you continue. “He’s not gonna hurt you.”

“...Weird.”

“Juliet!” Anika calls. “Your fake deathbed is waiting!”

“Okay, okay! I’m coming!” Laura takes one last look at your screen before sitting on the bed. She adjusts herself so that she’s lying down.

“Ready, Jules?” Anika asks.

“Ready!”

“Then 3...2...1...PULL!”

From behind, two of the other members of the scenery department pull on the rope the bed’s attached to. At least, you think it’s two of them; it only makes sense for there to be one per rope.

Your eyes are locked on the bed slowly rising off the floor. Its ascent is slow, but mesmerizing. But when Laura is six or seven feet up, you snap yourself out of your trance and notice that one of the ends of the bed stopped ascending. The bed’s getting uneven, and Laura is gradually sliding down.

You hear a voice call, “Hey, I’m stuck!”

“STOP PULLING, GUYS!” Anika shouts.

The rope that can still move jerks to a stop, making the bed swing violently. Laura screams as she’s knocked off the bed, plummeting several feet through the air.

You gasp.

“NOOO!” Anika yells.

But it’s too late. Laura lands on the rock-hard stage with a thud. “Ooow…”

Every other member of the cast and crew comes rushing over.

“Laura!”

“Are you okay?”

“Oh my God, she’s bleeding!”

“Someone call an ambulance!”

“I’m on it!” Riley yanks their cell phone out of their pocket and dials 911.

In the agonizing minutes before the ambulance arrives, the entire theater is in a panic. Some are struggling with first aid, some are looking on, desperately hoping that things are going to be okay, and others can’t bear to watch.

You, meanwhile, don’t know what to do, so you just turn the laptop back around. “I’m really sorry you had to see that.”

“I just hope she’ll be alright, the poor dear!”

“Me too, Mettaton,” is all you can think to say. “Me, too.”

Soon, the ambulance arrives, and a group of emergency medical workers bursts into the theater. Two of them carry Laura onto a stretcher. Nervously, Anika walks up to them. “Is...is she going to be okay?

“Looks like it’s just a few broken bones. She’ll be fine.”

“Yeah…” Laura nearly whispers. “I’m gonna be okay.”

“Jul-- I mean, Laura! I’m so sorry!”

“Don’t be. It was an accident.” And soon, she’s on her way to the hospital.

The silence that follows the incident is unsettling, to say the least. But what can you say after something like _that_ happens? You can’t just go back to business as usual.

Especially not in this case. After what feels like a huge stretch of time, Miguel, who plays Romeo, finally speaks up.

“We’re going to need an understudy.”


	4. Chapter 4

“But WHO?” asks who you believe is one of the directors. “Who the hell can memorize a bunch of SHAKESPEARE in FOUR DAYS?”

“We’ll have to postpone the show,” says who you think is the other director.

“We CAN’T! We already sold all those tickets! Parents have probably booked FLIGHTS for this!”

“Then…” The second director turns to the cast. “Can anyone double up? Maybe someone with a small part?”

“Nah, man, I got this part because I CAN’T memorize Shakespeare,” one of the actors replies.

“I’d need at _least_ a week for this,” another says.

The room gradually gets noisier as the actors and a few crew members contribute their ideas. “Tybalt isn’t in a whole lot of scenes with Juliet. And they _are_ supposed to be related!”

“Maybe one of the moms can do it?”

“How about someone reads her lines offstage, and Juliet can be invisible?”

“I say Romeo dates himself!”

“I’ll do it!”

No one else seems to hear that last one except you, but you know very well who said it. “Mettaton!” you whisper-shout, leaning into your laptop. It's now resting on your legs as you sit on the floor. “You’re not _serious_ , are you?”

“Of _course_ I’m serious! Not only am I built for any starring role, but I happen to have experience in playing the star-crossed lover! Don’t you remember?”

“That’s not something you can just forget.” At one point in the game, Mettaton temporarily turns the game into a musical, singing about how his “one true love,” involuntarily portrayed by the player character, is going to be thrown in the dungeon.

“And that’s not all! I’m a _machine_ , darling. I can memorize lines faster than the average monster, or human! Clearly, this is destiny.”

“No, _that’s_ not what I’m worried about. I’m sure you’d do fine! It’s just...you’re _in my laptop_.” You’re not sure anyone could take the play seriously if Juliet is inside a computer.

For a few moments, Mettaton doesn’t say anything, bringing your attention to the rather chaotic chatter filling the room. But that becomes background noise once again when he speaks up. “You’re right.”

You are? That went faster than expected.

“If I’m going to be a part of this show, I’ll have to come outside.”

“...What?”

“Just what I said. The only way for me to save your production is to escape this computer.”

“But...HOW?”

“Oh, I have my ways. Or...a friend of mine is currently working on ways.” He pauses. “I need to try something.” And he wheels himself offscreen.

“Wait, Mettaton, where are you going? What are you trying to do? You sure you _should_ be doing this? Is this SAFE?”

But he’s already offscreen, leaving the title screen as it usually is in the window. “Mettaton, come back! I have a bad feeling about this!” At this point, you don’t care about staying quiet anymore.

So Izzy, who happens to be sitting nearby, hears you. “You okay, ______?” she asks.

“I’m not sure! Mettaton just said he was going to leave the computer!”

“What? How?”

“ _That’s what I said!_ ”

“Well, I don’t know if this is gonna do anything, but...maybe you should close the game.”

“It’s worth a try.” You push your cursor toward the X in the corner, but before you get there, the window goes black. And even with all the talking going on in the background, you can tell that the music stops.

You try to close it, but it won’t go away. “I think it froze!” you tell Izzy.

As she scoots closer to get a better look, you hear a cartoonish electrical surge as the window turns yellow. Then there’s another surge. And another. They get progressively louder until the whole screen turns yellow, and the laptop feels like it just burst into flames. Then all you hear is the internal fans, spinning violently in a frantic attempt to cool the system down. The computer rumbles with their motion.

By now, some of the other crew members and even a couple of the cast have noticed something. “Hey,” one of them says, “what’s going on with ______’s computer?”

You put the thing down, fearing that it’ll explode, or that Mettaton will come flying out and smack you in the face. A sizable group of people is looking on now. “Stay back!” you tell them, standing back yourself. “This could be dangerous!”

Even from a few feet away, you can hear the fans whirring, only getting louder. People circle around it in a mixture of fascination and fear. “I have _never_ seen this happen,” someone comments.

“I don’t think any of us have,” says someone else.

The fans stop short, and the computer goes dark. You wait a few seconds for something else to happen, and when nothing does, you cautiously step forward. “Mettaton? Are you okay?” you say, barely above a whisper. Switching to a normal volume, you add, “Also, am I gonna have to get a new computer?”

You’ll worry about that later. For now, you need to see what’s happened. You’re a couple steps away from the laptop when a bright magenta fades onto the screen. The fans come on, too, but they’re much quieter this time. The computer appears to be starting up again.

After the company logo makes an appearance, it dissolves, along with the magenta, to another yellow screen. But this one is crossed by thick black lines, separating it into squares.

It looks an awful lot like Mettaton’s face in his box form.

Everyone, including the directors, has come to watch now. They’ve put aside the issue of the understudy to see what the heck is going on with your computer. And in a way, that makes you the center of attention here. Kind of nerve-racking, if you think about it.

Thankfully, there’s someone willing to share the spotlight. “That didn’t work out QUITE as intended,” Mettaton’s mechanical voice says. The screen begins to change, forming a different pattern of yellow and orange squares every half a second or so.

You breathe a huge sigh of relief. "Oh, thank goodness you're alright," you say. "You really scared me!" You look around at the circle of cast and crew. "Everyone else, too."

"Aw, were you worried about me?"

It's starting to get to you how many people are watching. "Um, yes," you say, sitting down so you can just focus on the screen. "That, and I didn't want my computer to...blow up."

A few chuckles rise from the crowd.

“So…” you begin. “...could you-- preferably quickly-- tell me what you just did?”

“I’m not so sure of that myself, darling. I know I’m not out of the computer.”

“You’re not.”

“In fact, I think I _became_ the computer.”

“Huh?”

“I feel the ground I’m resting on, and I have access to all of these files. Let’s see...there’s one called ‘biolab1.docx’?”

“Excuse me!” Everyone turns to one of the directors, the less patient one. “Would you mind explaining to me what’s going on here?”

“Oh, uh, right. Er….” You look back at Mettaton. “You mind introducing yourself?”

“Not at all, gorgeous! How about you lift me up so everyone can see me?”

“Good idea!” You pick up the laptop, which doesn’t feel so hot anymore, and hold it in front of your face.

“Good afternoon, everyone! ______ hasn’t introduced me to most of you, but some of you may already know me! I am Mettaton, beloved entertainment robot and the underground’s biggest star! I’m the host of over ten different TV shows, as well as the lead in an ongoing series of major motion pictures!”

The cast and crew stare blankly.

“I’m from a video game.”

“Ohhhh!”

“I knew that!” someone calls. “Hi, Mettaton!”

“Nice to meet you, beautiful! Anyway, I see that tragedy has struck. Four days before your performance, and one of your lead actors is horribly injured! How can the show _ever_ go on?”

“...I still want Romeo to date himself.”

Mettaton ignores the comment. “Luckily for you, I have a solution! _I’ll_ be your new Juliet!”

“..You?”

“A computer?”

“You can _act_?”

The crowd buzzes with complaints and confusion until the grumpier director raises her voice. “QUIET, EVERYONE!”

Everyone shuts up except for a single straggler, who quickly follows suit.

“Guys,” the director says, “I say we give this laptop a chance.”

“What?” asks the calmer director. “Really, a _laptop_?”

“Isaac, we have FOUR DAYS to find a replacement Juliet and teach them all the lines. That is next to IMPOSSIBLE. But…” She looks at you. “He? She? They? It?”

“He,” you tell her.

“Okay. He is not only _willing_ to do it, but he might actually be _able_ to. Who cares if he’s a computer? That might actually HELP us!”

“The audience might care,” Isaac says. “This play’s supposed to be a tragedy, you know.”

“So? Tragedies can still be funny!”

“Yeah, Mercutio is offended!” one of the actors yells.

Ignoring the remark, the director goes on. “And besides, what choice do we have? No one’s offered to double up yet!” She turns to Mettaton. “I just need to ask you one question.”

“And what might that be?”

“Can you memorize all the lines by Friday?”

“Of course! Although I am in a new form... ______ and I will figure out some way. Any ideas, ______?”

“Huh? Oh, uh…” You lift your computer up a little more, making sure it’s covering your whole face. “Let’s see...maybe...oh! My bio lab!”

“Hm?”

“Biolab1.docx! Can you still get to it?”

Mettaton pauses to think. “Yes.”

“Great! Can you read it?”

“As a matter of fact...yes! ‘______ ______, lab 1: Gel Electrophoresis, partner…” He goes on to read the entire heading.

“Sounds familiar. So...all I’d need to do is, um, find the script online and copy and paste it into a Word document.”

“That settles it, then!” the director says. She turns to the cast and crew. “Unless any of you have objections.”

“Yeah, uh, I have one,” “Mercutio” says. “Miguel, if we go through with this, you are going to have to make out with this computer onstage. Are you okay with that?”

“Um...sure?”

“Prove it!” someone else shouts.

“Uhhhhh….”

“Don’t be so nervous, darling. I don’t bite,” Mettaton says. You tilt the laptop towards you just enough to tell that the screen’s displaying a pattern of red squares in the shape of a heart.

“You don’t have to do it right now, Miguel,” the director assures him. “Just when the time comes.”

Miguel lets out a relieved sigh. “Okay. I’ll manage.”

The director nods. “Then _now_ it’s settled! The show is saved!”

The crowd cheers as you meekly make your way into it, only now fully absorbing what just happened. Mettaton’s officially part of the cast. Sure, you helped it happen, but that doesn’t mean you don’t have your doubts. For one thing, you have to figure out how to play music and sound effects on your laptop while the laptop is onstage.

But it’s not just that. Mettaton’s apparently taken over the whole computer. Meaning that you can’t just exit the game when you’re finished talking to him; he’ll be there as long as you’re doing ANYTHING computer-related.

You have a feeling it’s going to be a long week.


	5. Chapter 5

By this point, you’re _way_ behind schedule; the incident with Laura and the resulting issue with finding an understudy set you back at least an hour. And it’s not helping that there are all sorts of technical problems to work out with Mettaton.

For one thing, he can’t move on his own. The crew’s first strategy is to have someone push him around on a cart, but that thing proves too big and bulky to be practical, especially since it would need to climb up to a balcony. So the only option is for someone to carry that laptop around.

Eventually, one of the actors who plays a servant in the first scene agrees to it; he was always envious of Laura’s costume dress, anyway. While it will look a bit strange for one of Juliet’s arms to always be clutching her head, it’s better than knocking over props.

And of course, the sound department has plenty to solve. It only makes it worse that you’re preoccupied with how much of your time Mettaton is going to take up, even outside the theater.

No, you tell yourself. Worry about that later. Right now, you need to focus on tech-related problems, like…

“Any idea how to play the soundtrack without my laptop?” you ask Izzy.

“Nope, sorry,” she replies, struggling to clip one of the mikes onto that very laptop. “More importantly, how do I mike this guy?”

You take a closer look. “Let me see.” Izzy takes you holding out your hand as a sign to give you the mike, and you aimlessly clip it on various points on the laptop. About a minute later, you stop short. “Wait,” you say. “You don’t need to mike him at all.”

“I don’t?”

“Nope. You can plug him right into the speakers. Like I was going to do before...this...happened.”

Izzy peeks over at the sound corner. “Oh, duh.” She walks over to your station, stands there looking around for a couple seconds, then asks, “Where do you keep your cord again?”

Despite having done this for three shows, including this one, you have to think about it. “It’s in my laptop bag!” you tell her after a moment’s pause. “Front pouch!”

“Velcro?”

“Yeah.”

“Thanks.” She takes out the cord and manages to find the plug for the speaker system on her own. After clicking that end into place, she carries the other over to Mettaton.

“Careful, Izzy,” you warn her. “He can feel you.”

“Really? Weird.” She has to pull to get the cord into the corresponding slot, making it oscillate like a guitar string. “That doesn’t hurt, does it?”

You push the chair Mettaton’s resting on closer to the speakers as he replies. “Not at all. Don’t worry about me!”

Your eyes travel along the wire to the speakers and back. It’s not that long a distance. “We’re gonna need an extension or two.” Where can you get those again? Oh, yeah. “I think the lighting department has some.” You start walking away. “Don’t worry. I’ll--”

“Why don’t you let Izzy get the extension cords?”

“I...don’t think it matters who gets them,” you reply.

“It really doesn’t,” Izzy agrees.

“Not really, but I’d like us to have some time alone, if you don’t mind.” He’s probably talking to Izzy, so you turn him slightly in her direction.

“Ohhh. I getcha!” She sends the two of you a wink before turning around and marching toward the other side of the stage. “Sure, I’ll get the cords! You kids have fun!”

“What? I...you know that’s not what he meant!” But she’s already gone. “That’s not what you meant, right?”

“Who’s to say it wasn’t, my love?” he says, playful flirtation coming across even through that robotic filter.

“I…”

“I’m just teasing you, darling. That isn’t why I want to talk to you.”

You have to remind yourself that he calls EVERYONE “darling” before you can believe him. “Then what is?”

“You seem...troubled about something. Are you alright?”

You guess you haven’t been as focused as usual. “I think so…I mean, a lot just happened.”

“I’ll say! It’s quite impressive how everyone’s still pulling through.”

You manage a smile. “All thanks to you, Mettaton.”

“Yes, of course. Without me, you’d probably still be looking for an understudy, wouldn’t you?”

“Yeah, probably…”

“Oh, did you want the part? Is that what’s bothering you?”

You get a flash of an alternate timeline where you volunteered to be Juliet. You’re studying your lines long into the night, feeling the heat of the stage lights, getting uncomfortably close to a guy you hardly know, and in front of all those people… “NO WAY!”

“You don’t need to be so harsh about it!”

“Sorry. The idea is just...way too stressful.”

“Maybe that’s it! You’re just stressed!” The squares on his screen frantically flash patterns of red and yellow, simulating TV static. “I’ll tell you what. When you get back to your room, I’ll--”

“I got the cords!”

Your head shoots up to find Izzy holding a pair of long wires, one white, one orange, trailing to the floor. “Am I interrupting something?”

You unplug Mettaton to make room for the extension. “It’s fine. This is more important.”

 

\---

Soon, the runthrough begins. Mettaton doesn’t appear at all in the first scene, but he begs you to let him see outside the curtain so he can watch.

“I can’t,” you tell him as quietly as possible. “We’re not supposed to let the audience see any more than our feet while we’re backstage.”

“I don’t even have feet anymore,” he says with a sigh. “I miss my legs already.”

“Well, after all this is done, you can have them back, okay?” Given he can figure out a way to get back into the game. “Now we need to be quiet.”

“But I...alright. I can’t spoil my dramatic reveal!”

You nod, glad he understands at least a little.

Soon enough, it’s almost time for scene III, and Mettaton’s escort, clad in the Juliet dress, comes to pick him up.

“You ready?” the former ‘Sampson’ whispers. Or was he playing Gregory?

“I was _built_ ready,” Mettaton affirms.

“What about your lines?”

His lines? Oh, no, you completely forgot about those! “Crud!” you whisper-shout. “I need Mettaton back! Sorry!”

The human actor sets Mettaton down on your table. “What did you say his name was again?”

“Mettaton! M-E-T-T--”

“It’s alright. Just focus on my script.”

“Okay, but…”

“But what?”

“You need to give me access to the internet first. And Word.”

“Right. Now, how exactly do I do that?”

“I don’t know! You’re the one with the computer body. And besides, you got the lab--”

“Never mind! I found it!” The display changes from Mettaton’s face to your desktop. It feels so good to see it again.

But there’s no time to appreciate it now. You hurriedly click on the internet browser and go to Google, where you type in “romeo and juliet scripot,” not even bothering to correct the typo. Luckily, the entire script is in the first result, so you go there and copy-paste it into a...wait, you still need a blank Word document.

Once THAT’S open, you paste it in. “Phew!”

“So is he ready to go?” the escort asks. You make a mental note to ask his name later.

“One sec!” You save the document as “rnjscript.docx”. “NOW he’s ready!”

The yellow and orange grid of Mettaton’s face fades back in as he’s handed to the other actor. “Be careful with me,” he warns. “Oh, and what’s your name?”

“Greg,” the guy answers. “It’s funny because I play Sampson.”

They start to walk away while you give Mettaton a small wave. “Break a leg!” Wait a minute, he lost his legs. “Sorry. Good-- no. Whatever I’m supposed to say.”

You slump down in your chair, hoping you won’t have to do much else this rehearsal.

 

\---

Sadly, there’s more to fix. The actress who plays the Nurse trips over Mettaton’s extension cord as soon as he enters. You’re willing to overlook that, since it is kind of in character for her, but then it happens a second time. And a third time. So during scene 4, you and Izzy have to try to figure out how to mike that computer again.

And Mettaton himself isn’t making this easy. He’s a pretty good actor, and you’re sure he means well, but he keeps trying to take the script a step further. His lines are filled to the brim with emotion, and apparently, he keeps asking Greg to make poses or something. From backstage, you can hear, “You want me to do WHAT?”

When it gets to the part where Romeo and Juliet first meet, you can’t resist the urge to peek through the curtains. Mettaton is inches from Miguel’s face in a dramatic display of spontaneous affection.

That’s enough for you to close the curtain. You can’t look anymore.

 

\---

Even though the rehearsal runs 45 minutes longer than it was originally supposed to, you only manage to get through act 1. By the end of it, everyone seems anxious to go home, packing up their stuff as quickly as they can.

And when Riley calls everyone together for notes, they hesitate for a few moments. They glance down at their clipboard, look back up, and sigh. “You know what?” they say. “This can wait until tomorrow.”


End file.
